Donald Trump's grandfather ran Canadian brothel during gold rush, author says

[DCPatriot]

Donald Trump's grandfather ran Canadian brothel during gold rush, author says

Friedrich Trump amassed 'substantial nest-egg' from Yukon hotel before heading to New York

Canadians amused by the improbable presidential run of Donald Trump might be surprised to learn the role their own country played in shaping his story.

Trump's grandfather started the family fortune in an adventure that involved the Klondike gold rush, the Mounties, prostitution and twists of fate that pushed him to New York City.

Friedrich Trump had been in North America a few years when he set out for the Yukon, says an author who's just completed a new edition of her multi-generational family biography.

That Canadian chapter proved pivotal for the entrepreneurial German immigrant, says Gwenda Blair, author of The Trumps: Three Generations That Built An Empire.

"It allowed him to get together the nest egg he'd come to the United States for," the author and Columbia University journalism professor said in an interview.

"Whether he could've accumulated that much money somewhere else, in that short a period of time, as a young man with no connections, and initially not even English, is certainly ... unlikely."

He'd left Europe in 1885 at age 16, a barber's apprentice whose father died young.

Trump wanted a life outside the barber shop, far from the family-owned vineyards his ancestors had been working since they'd settled in Germany's Kallstadt region in the 1600s carrying the soon-altered surname Drumpf.

He sailed in steerage to join his sister in New York.

Within five years he'd anglicized his name to Frederick; moved to the young timber town of Seattle; and amassed enough cash to buy tables and chairs for a restaurant.

His next big move was heralded by the front page of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer of July 17, 1897, and its exclamatory headline: "Gold! Gold! Gold!"

It described a resplendent scene at the port involving mountains of yellow metal and men returning from the "New Eldorado" with fortunes as high as $100,000.

Trump sold everything and headed north.

more at:   http://www.cbc.ca/m/news/canada/trump-canada-yukon-1.3235254

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[EC]

And?

[DCPatriot]

And?

Shows just how desperate the Trump opposition has become, doesn't it?

When I was a young man, this same 'trick' was used against John F. Kennedy and Nelson Rockefeller.....that their grandfathers compiled their fortunes on the backs of cheap labor, bootlegging, etc..

[EC]

Bloody foolish, it is.

[musiclady]

Shows just how desperate the Trump opposition has become, doesn't it?

When I was a young man, this same 'trick' was used against John F. Kennedy and Nelson Rockefeller.....that their grandfathers compiled their fortunes on the backs of cheap labor, bootlegging, etc..

It happens with every candidate, DC, and it's stupid every time.

Nothing special about doing it to Trump.

[bkepley]

It happens with every candidate, DC, and it's stupid every time.

Nothing special about doing it to Trump.

Trump though seems to be of the same stuff as his ancestors. John Adams said that he learned about war so his children could learn about business so that their children could learn about art and that is pretty much what happened.  That was an impressive family.

[DCPatriot]

Trump though seems to be of the same stuff as his ancestors. John Adams said that he learned about war so his children could learn about business so that their children could learn about art and that is pretty much what happened.  That was an impressive family.

You mean like Friedrich Trump did so Donald could learn business and his daughter Ivana could learn about the performing arts while herself running part of the family business?

That is an impressive family too.   

[raml]

I have to say that Trumps family is a family to be proud of today with all the temptations of the world his kids seem to have grown up to be productive citizens. I don't give a damn what his grandfather did just look to the Kennedy's and who their father was not grandfather to see how some families get their fortunes and the males in that family sure exploited women.

[NavyCanDo]

Well there is one area Trump does a one-up on the other candidates. Seems they all want to state they are the son or grandson of a dirt poor sod-buster, a coal minor, a brick layer, a chimney sweep, or some other trade that attempts to sale them as a red white & blue byproduct of Americana.   My granddaddy had hookers is one I hadn't heard before. Beats the hell out of my granddaddy running a still.     

[libertybele]

...hmm...Jeb's grandpappy has been rumored to have helped Hitler and all Trump's grandpappy did was run a brothel.  Looks like Jeb has one upped him on this one!

Good grief people.  What next?   

[Godzilla]

Good way to make money back then... with minimal investment.

[bkepley]

...hmm...Jeb's grandpappy has been rumored to have helped Hitler and all Trump's grandpappy did was run a brothel.  Looks like Jeb has one upped him on this one!

Good grief people.  What next?   

Who is backing Jeb?

[ABX]

Good way to make money back then... with minimal investment.

And you get a cool pimp hat and nickname.

[bkepley]

And you get a cool pimp hat and nickname.

The pimping isn't as interesting as the flim-flammery actually.  Kind of a family tradition.

[DCPatriot]

Good way to make money back then... with minimal investment.

Check out Hell on Wheels on Netflix.  Excellent portrayal of your point.

{{{sorry}}}   

[Carling]

Bill Clinton raped multiple women and his wife help cover it up.

[aligncare]

It happens with every candidate, DC, and it's stupid every time.

Nothing special about doing it to Trump.

True. Politics is bloodsport without the blood.